JP2000183019A - Multistage substrate-processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing device comprising a plurality of wet-type processing units and dry-type processing units in multi stages for good maintainability. SOLUTION: A substrate-processing device 1 comprises a plurality of wet-type processing units (a cleaning unit 10 and a resist coating unit 30) provided on a first stage, a plurality of dry-type processing units (a dehydration bake unit 20 and a pre-bake unit 40) laminated above the wet-type processing unit, and vertically-moving robots 2a, 51, and 52. The wet-type processing unit comprises a wet-type processing part (a cleaning part 13 and a spin coater part 32). The dry-type processing unit comprises a plurality of dry-type processing parts (heating parts 21 and 41, cooling parts 22 and 42). The vertically-moving robots 2a, 51, and 52 fronsfer a substrate between the wet-type processing unit and the dry-type processing unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing a series of processing on a substrate, and more particularly to a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus having a multi-stage structure in which a wet processing unit and a dry processing unit are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process of manufacturing a glass substrate (FPD substrate) or a semiconductor wafer for a liquid crystal display device or a plasma display device, a substrate processing device for forming a resist film on the surface of the substrate and performing exposure and development is required. It is. Among these substrate processing apparatuses, there is an apparatus (in-line system) that connects multiple processing units to enable consistent processing. For example, in the photolithography process, it is connected to an exposure machine to perform cleaning from resist pre-coating to resist coating. There is a coater / developer device which can perform coating, exposure and development continuously. In addition, there is an apparatus that performs processing from cleaning before resist application before exposure to resist application in an integrated manner.

FIG. 5 (plan view) shows a conventional apparatus for performing processing from cleaning before resist coating to resist coating. In the substrate processing apparatus 101, a substrate is taken out from the cassette C carried to the indexer 102, and is processed by each of the processing units 110, 120, 130, and 140, and is processed.
This is a device for returning a substrate that has turned and returned to the cassette C of the indexer 102. This substrate processing apparatus 101
It mainly includes a cleaning unit 110, a dehydration bake unit 120, a resist coating unit 130, and a pre-bake unit 140.

The cleaning unit 110 is a wet processing unit using a cleaning liquid, and includes a carry-in unit 111, a UV irradiation unit 112, a cleaning unit 113, a droplet removing unit 114, and a carry-out unit 115. In the cleaning unit 110, substrate processing such as cleaning and liquid droplet removal is performed while the substrate is transported by the roller conveyor.

The dehydration bake unit 120 is a dry processing unit that does not use a processing liquid, and includes a heating section 121 in which a heating chamber and an adhesion strengthening chamber are stacked in multiple stages, and a cooling section 122 in which cooling chambers are stacked in multiple stages. And a rotating robot 120a, 120b, 120c for transporting the substrate.

[0006] The resist coating unit 130 is a wet processing unit using a resist (coating liquid), and includes a carry-in section 131, a spin coater section 132, a leveling processing section 133, an edge rinse section 134, and a carry-out section 135. In the resist coating unit 130, the substrate is transported by a slider that sequentially advances the substrate to an adjacent processing unit.

The pre-bake unit 140 is a dry processing unit that does not use a processing liquid. The pre-baking unit 140 includes a heating section 141 in which a heating chamber and an adhesion strengthening chamber are stacked in multiple stages, and a cooling section 142 in which cooling chambers are stacked in multiple stages. And rotating robots 140a and 140b for transporting substrates.

In the substrate processing apparatus 101, first, the substrate is carried into the carry-in section 111 of the cleaning unit 110 by the indexer robot 102a. And the substrate is
As shown by a white arrow in FIG.
Is transferred to the dehydration bake unit 120, and is conveyed to the resist coating unit 130 by the conveyor 103 when the processing in the dehydration bake unit 120 ends. The substrate on which the resist is applied by the resist coating unit 130 is subjected to a process of evaporating a residual solvent in a resist film on the substrate and enhancing adhesion of the substrate in a prebake unit 140. Thereafter, the substrate is returned from the cooling unit 142 to the cassette C by the indexer robot 102a.

In this case, since the units are arranged in a plane, the apparatus requires a relatively large occupied floor area as shown in FIG. 5, and in consideration of a space for maintenance, the width of the indexer 102 is reduced. More than that.

[0010]

In order to reduce the floor area occupied by the above-mentioned apparatus, it is conceivable to stack units in multiple stages as shown in FIG. 6 (side view). The substrate processing apparatus 101a shown in FIG. 6 is composed of the same four units as the substrate processing apparatus 101 described above.
01 makes the substrate U-turn in a plane, whereas the outgoing line is arranged in the lower stage and the return line is arranged in the upper stage, and the substrate is U-turned (see the white arrow in FIG. 6). That is, the substrate receives the processing in the cleaning unit 110 and the dehydration baking unit 120 from the indexer 102 in the lower stage, and is then carried to the resist coating unit 130 in the upper stage by the robot 103a that can move up and down, and the resist coating unit 130 and the pre-bake Unit 140
Is returned to the cassette C by the indexer robot 102a.

When the constituent units are stacked in multiple stages as in the substrate processing apparatus 101a, there is an advantage that the floor area occupied by the apparatus is substantially reduced by half. However, when the units are arranged as shown in FIG. 6, a resist coating unit (wet processing unit) 130 using a resist (coating liquid) and having many maintenance parts such as tanks and pipes is arranged in the upper stage. , Maintenance is not so good. Further, when the processing liquid leaks from the upper wet processing unit, there is a high possibility that the processing liquid may affect the unit disposed below the processing liquid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus in which a wet processing unit and a dry processing unit are mixed, and to maintain maintainability of the wet processing unit.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of wet processing units, a plurality of dry processing units, and a plurality of substrate transfer units. Each wet processing unit includes a plurality of processing units and includes a wet processing unit that uses a processing liquid. Each dry processing unit includes a plurality of dry processing units that do not use a processing liquid. Each substrate transfer means transfers a substrate between the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit. In this multi-stage substrate processing apparatus, the plurality of wet processing units are all arranged in the first stage, and the dry processing units are stacked above the wet processing units.

The apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus in which a plurality of wet processing units and a plurality of dry processing units are mixed, and these are stacked by laminating a wet processing unit on a lower stage and a dry processing unit on an upper stage. The maintainability of the wet processing unit is ensured, and the floor area occupied by the apparatus is reduced by configuring the unit in multiple stages. In order to transfer a substrate from a wet processing unit to a dry processing unit or from a dry processing unit to a wet processing unit, a plurality of substrate transfer means connecting these units are provided.

As described above, in the present apparatus, the plurality of wet processing units are all arranged in the first stage, and the substrate is transferred to and from the dry processing unit stacked above by the substrate transferring means. Therefore, maintainability of the wet processing unit is ensured. In addition, when a wet processing unit is provided in the upper stage, there is a high possibility that the leakage of the processing liquid will adversely affect the lower processing unit, but such a problem is eliminated in the present apparatus.

A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a second aspect is the apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the substrate transfer means takes out the substrate from the substrate unloading section of the wet processing unit and transfers the substrate to the substrate loading section of the dry processing unit. And the substrate is taken out of the substrate unloading section of the dry processing unit, and the substrate is transferred to the substrate loading section of the wet processing unit.

Since the present apparatus is a substrate processing apparatus in which processing units are arranged in multiple stages, when transferring substrates between the lower wet processing unit and the upper dry processing unit, the substrate is planarly transferred. Just moving them is not enough. Therefore, in this apparatus, a substrate transfer means is provided, in which a substrate is transferred from the substrate unloading section of the wet processing unit to the substrate loading section of the dry processing unit or a substrate loading section of the wet processing unit is loaded from the substrate unloading section of the dry processing unit. The transfer of the substrate to is performed.
Thereby, the substrate processing in the wet processing unit and the substrate processing in the dry processing unit become continuous, and the consistency of the substrate processing is ensured.

A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a third aspect is the apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the substrate transfer means is a vertically moving robot. A vertically moving robot is a robot that can move up and down and cannot move two-dimensionally except for its hand. Further, in the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit in which the substrate processing is continuous, the substrate unloading part of the processing unit in the upper process and the substrate loading part of the processing unit in the lower process are continuously continuous in a plane with the substrate transfer means interposed therebetween. I have.

Since the present apparatus is a substrate processing apparatus in which processing units are arranged in multiple stages, when transferring substrates between the lower wet processing unit and the upper dry processing unit, the substrate is planarly transferred. In addition to moving the substrate, it is necessary to move the substrate up and down. Here, a vertically moving robot is adopted as the substrate transfer means, and the substrate is moved up and down.

Further, since this vertically moving robot is located in a plane connecting the substrate carrying-out part of the processing unit in the upper process and the substrate carrying-in part of the processing unit in the lower process, the vertically moving robot itself is planar. It is not necessary to move the substrate, and it is sufficient if only the hand holding the substrate can be moved in and out of the substrate loading section and the substrate loading section. In view of this, the vertically moving robot is a robot that can move up and down and cannot move two-dimensionally except for its hand.

Further, in the present apparatus, the substrate unloading section of the upper processing unit and the substrate loading section of the lower processing unit are continuous in a plane, so that a consistent substrate processing over both steps can be performed more continuously. It can be a typical thing.

A multistage substrate processing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit to be stacked have the same installation area.

Since the installation areas of the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit, which are stacked one above the other, are equal, the structural stability in a multi-stage arrangement is increased, and access to both processing units by the substrate transfer means is easy. Becomes

A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a fifth aspect is a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus in which a plurality of processing units for processing a substrate are arranged in multiple stages, wherein the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit include: The apparatus includes a first dry processing unit and a second dry processing unit, and a substrate transfer unit. The first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit each include:
It has a plurality of processing units and transport means, and performs a series of processing on the substrate. The plurality of processing units of the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit include a wet processing unit using a processing liquid. Transport means of the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit transport the substrate between the plurality of processing units. Each of the first dry processing unit and the second dry processing unit has a plurality of dry processing units and a transport unit. The plurality of dry processing units of the first dry processing unit and the second dry processing unit are processing units that do not use a processing liquid. The transport means of the first dry processing unit and the second dry processing unit transports the substrate between the plurality of dry processing units. The substrate transfer means transfers the substrate between the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit. In this multi-stage substrate processing apparatus, the first and second wet processing units are arranged in the first stage.

The apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus in which the first and second wet processing units and the first and second dry processing units are mixed, and the wet processing unit is stacked on the lower stage and the dry processing unit is stacked on the upper stage. By doing so, the maintainability of the wet processing unit is ensured, and the occupied floor area of the apparatus is reduced by using a multi-stage configuration. In order to transfer a substrate from the wet processing unit to the dry processing unit or from the dry processing unit to the wet processing unit, a substrate transfer unit connecting these units is provided.

As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus in which the processing units are arranged in multiple stages, the first and second wet processing units are connected to one another.
Since it is arranged at the lower stage and the substrate transfer between the dry processing unit and the dry processing unit is performed by the substrate transfer means, the maintainability of the wet processing unit is ensured. In addition, in the case where a wet processing unit is arranged in the upper stage, there is a high possibility that leakage of the processing liquid may adversely affect the processing unit below,
The present apparatus eliminates such a problem.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, wherein the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit are arranged in series along the substrate transport direction. . The second dry processing unit and the first dry processing unit are stacked above the first and second wet processing units. The substrate transfer means can move the substrate up and down. The substrate transfer means is disposed between the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit and on the rear side of the second wet processing unit. ,Also,
These substrate transfer means are provided from the first wet processing unit to the first dry processing unit and from the first dry processing unit to the second dry processing unit.
The substrate is transferred to the wet processing unit and from the second wet processing unit to the second dry processing unit.

Here, the second dry processing unit and the first dry processing unit are stacked above the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit arranged in series, and substrate transfer means for moving the substrate up and down. Are disposed between the two wet processing units and behind the second wet processing unit. The substrate to be processed in this apparatus is transported from the first wet processing unit to the first dry processing unit by the substrate transfer means after finishing the processing in the first wet processing unit, and
After the processing in the dry processing unit is completed, the substrate is transferred to the second wet processing unit by the substrate transfer means. In addition, the substrate
After finishing the processing in the second wet processing unit, the substrate is transferred from the second wet processing unit to the second dry processing unit by the substrate transfer means.

Accordingly, the substrate is first transferred from the lower first wet processing unit to the upper first dry processing unit.
Next, the process moves from the upper first dry processing unit to the lower second wet processing unit, and moves from the lower second wet processing unit to the upper second dry processing unit.

Thus, here, the movement locus of the substrate is
The trajectory looks like a figure eight drawn on a vertical plane. Here, it is possible to arrange the first and second wet processing units in the first stage by drawing such a locus of the substrate by the substrate transfer means for moving the substrate up and down. Maintainability is ensured.

A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a seventh aspect is the apparatus according to the sixth aspect, further comprising a buffer unit. The buffer unit is disposed on the side of the substrate transfer unit, and can hold the substrate on standby.

Here, even when there is a difference in the time of substrate processing in each processing unit, a buffer unit is provided beside the substrate transfer means for transferring substrates between processing units. It is possible to make the substrate stand by and absorb the time difference. As a result, the efficiency of substrate processing as a whole apparatus can be improved, and the processing time can be reduced.

[0033]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment <Overall Configuration> FIG. 1 shows a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. This multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that connects a plurality of processing units to enable consistent processing, and is an apparatus that enables continuous processing from cleaning before resist coating to resist coating in a photolithography process. is there.

As shown in FIG. 1, the multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 1 mainly includes an indexer 2 and a cleaning unit 10.
, A dehydration bake unit 20, a resist coating unit 30, a pre-bake unit 40, and a vertically moving robot 2
a, 51, and 52. As shown in FIG. 2, buffers (buffer units) 61, 62, 63, and 64, which are configured in multiple stages and accommodate a plurality of glass substrates, can be placed on standby beside the vertically moving robots 51 and 52. Is arranged. The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 1 is of a uni-cassette type, in which a glass substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a substrate) is taken out from a cassette C placed on an indexer 2 and sent out to each unit, and a substrate after each processing step is placed in the same cassette. Store in C. Removal from the cassette C and storage in the cassette C are performed by the vertically moving robot 2a.

In the multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 1, the cleaning unit 1 is moved along the direction in which the substrate is transported from the indexer 2.
0 and a resist coating unit 30 are arranged in series, and a pre-bake unit 4 is provided above the cleaning unit 10.
The dewatering bake unit 20 is stacked above the resist coating unit 30. Each unit 1
0, 20, 30, and 40 are designed to have the same installation area. The vertical robot 2a is between the cassette C of the indexer 2 and the cleaning unit 10 and the pre-bake unit 40, and the vertical robot 51 is between the cleaning unit 10 and the pre-bake unit 40 and the resist coating unit 30 and the dehydration bake unit 20. The vertically moving robot 52 is disposed on the resist coating unit 30 and the dehydration bake unit 20 on the side opposite to the indexer 2 side.

<Configuration of Each Unit> Cleaning unit 10
Is a continuous single-wafer type wet processing unit, and includes a carry-in unit 11, a UV irradiation unit 12, a cleaning unit 13, a droplet removal unit 14,
And an unloading section 15. In this cleaning unit 10, while transporting the substrate by the roller conveyor,
Perform processing in each part. In the cleaning unit 13, cleaning is performed using a brush, high-pressure spray, or the like using pure water or a chemical solution (treatment liquid). In the space below each part, processing liquid tanks and pipes for supplying a processing liquid to the cleaning unit 13, various pipes for high-pressure air, exhaust, drainage, drainage, and the like, control devices, electric wiring, and the like are arranged.

The dehydration bake unit 20 is a dry processing unit that does not use a liquid such as a processing liquid, and has a heating section 21 in which a heating chamber and an adhesion strengthening chamber are stacked in multiple stages, and a cooling chamber in multiple stages. It comprises a cooling unit 22 and a turning robot 23 for transporting the substrate.

The resist coating unit 30 is a wet processing unit that uses a resist (coating liquid), and includes a loading unit 31, a spin coater unit 32, and a leveling processing unit 3.
3, an edge rinsing section 34, and an unloading section 35. In the resist coating unit 30, the substrate is transported by a slider that sequentially advances the substrate to an adjacent processing unit.

The pre-bake unit 40 is a dry processing unit that does not use a liquid such as a processing liquid. The pre-baking unit 40 includes a heating section 41 in which a heating chamber and an adhesion strengthening chamber are stacked in multiple stages, and a cooling section in which cooling chambers are stacked in multiple stages. It is composed of a section 42 and a turning robot 43 for transporting a substrate.

The up-and-down robot 51 moves up and down and turns to extend the hand, and thereby the cleaning unit 1 is moved.
0 carry-out unit 15, heating unit 2 of dehydration bake unit 20
1. A robot capable of accessing the carry-out section 35 of the resist coating unit 30 and the heating section 41 of the pre-bake unit 40.

The vertically moving robot 52 is a robot that can access the cooling unit 22 of the dehydration bake unit 20 and the carry-in unit 31 of the resist coating unit 30 by moving up and down and turning to extend the hand.

On the other hand, the up-down robot 2a can access the carry-in section 11 of the cleaning unit 10 and the cooling section 42 of the pre-bake unit 40 by moving up and down and turning to extend the hand.
The vertical motion robot 2a itself can move in a plane along the direction in which the cassettes C are arranged (vertical direction in FIG. 2), and can access each cassette C.

<Substrate Processing> Next, substrate processing by the multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 1 will be described in order. In the present apparatus 1, as described below, the substrate moves as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 1 and undergoes processing in the processing unit of each unit. That is, the substrate does not simply return to the cassette C of the indexer 2 by making a U-turn, but performs a substrate processing and returns to the cassette C while moving in a figure eight shape.

The vertically moving robot 2 in the indexer 2
The substrate taken out of the cassette C by a is first carried to the carry-in section 11 of the cleaning unit 10. UV from here
The substrate carried to the irradiation unit 12 is irradiated with ultraviolet light,
Organic contaminants on the surface are oxidatively decomposed. Subsequently, the substrate is transported to the cleaning unit 13 where scrub cleaning with a roll brush and cleaning with pure water by high-pressure jet spray are performed. Thereafter, in the droplet removing unit 14, the droplet of pure water remaining on the surface of the substrate is blown off by an air knife.

The substrate transferred to the unloading section 15 after the processing in the cleaning unit 10 is transferred to the heating section 21 of the dehydration bake unit 20 by the vertically moving robot 51. Here, the vertically moving robot 51 takes out the substrate from the unloading section 15, moves up while holding the substrate, and places the substrate in the heating chamber of the heating section 21. In the heating chamber of the heating unit 21 of the dehydration bake unit 20, the substrate is heated by a hot plate to remove moisture. Next, the substrate is carried by the revolving robot 23 to the adhesion strengthening room of the heating unit 21. In the adhesion strengthening chamber, HMDS is applied to the substrate while heating it to improve the adhesion between the resist film and the substrate.
(Hexamethyldisilazane) is applied in a vapor state.
Thereafter, the substrate is further transported to one of the plurality of cooling chambers of the cooling unit 22 and cooled by the cool plate.

The substrate which has been subjected to the dehydration bake as a pretreatment of the resist coating process is carried to the carry-in section 31 of the resist coating unit 30 by the vertically moving robot 52. Here, the vertically moving robot 52 takes out the substrate from the cooling chamber of the cooling unit 22, descends while holding the substrate, and places the substrate on the loading unit 31 of the resist coating unit 30.

In the resist coating unit 30, first, the substrate is carried to the spin coater 32 by the slider, and the resist is coated on the substrate. The spin coater unit 32 includes a resist supply system, a spin motor, a cup, and the like, and forms a uniform resist film on the substrate by dropping the resist on a horizontal substrate and rotating the substrate. The substrate on which the resist film is formed is transported to the leveling processing section 33, where the leveling and drying of the resist film are performed. Thereafter, the substrate is transferred to an edge rinsing section 34. Here, in order to prevent the resist film on the end face of the substrate from being peeled off and generating dust, a process of removing the resist on the periphery and the end face portion of the substrate surface with a solvent. Is performed. The substrate that has been subjected to each of the processes related to the resist coating is carried to the carry-out unit 35 by the slider.

The substrate that has been transferred to the unloading section 35 after the processing in the resist coating unit 30 has been transferred to the heating section 41 of the pre-bake unit 40 by the vertically moving robot 51. Here, the vertically moving robot 51 takes out the substrate from the unloading section 35, moves up while holding the substrate, and places the substrate in the heating chamber of the heating section 41. Pre-bake unit 4
In the 0 heating unit 41, a heating process is performed for the purpose of evaporating the residual solvent in the resist film on the substrate and enhancing the adhesion of the substrate. Thereafter, the substrate is cooled by the rotating robot 43 into the cooling unit 4.
2 where it is cooled.

The pre-baked substrate is taken out of the cooling section 42 by the vertically moving robot 2a, and the cassette C
Is returned to. Here, the vertically moving robot 2a takes out the substrate from the cooling unit 42, descends while holding the substrate, and places the substrate on the cassette C.

<Features of Apparatus> (1) In the present apparatus 1, the cleaning unit 10 and the resist coating unit 30 which are wet processing units, and the dehydration bake unit 20 and the pre-bake unit 40 which are dry processing units are mixed. The substrate is subjected to processing in the wet processing unit and processing in the dry processing unit alternately. Therefore, if a conventional U-turn type device is simply replaced with a multi-stage device, a wet processing unit disposed at the upper stage will appear, which will deteriorate maintenance performance and adversely affect the lower unit due to leakage of the processing solution. A trouble occurs (see FIG. 6).

On the other hand, in the present apparatus 1, the vertically moving robots 2a, 51 and 52, especially the vertically movable robot 51 are installed, and the substrate is transferred between the lower wet processing unit and the upper dry processing unit. Is possible. Then, instead of moving the substrate in a U-turn shape, by moving the substrate in a figure-eight shape, both wet processing units (the cleaning unit 10 and the resist coating unit 30) are arranged in a lower stage where maintenance is easy. (See FIG. 1). In this way, by laminating the wet processing units 10 and 30 on the lower stage and the dry processing units 20 and 40 on the upper stage, the maintainability of the wet processing units 10 and 30 is ensured, and the apparatus 1 is configured in multiple stages. A reduction in occupied floor space has been achieved. Further, in the present apparatus 1, the lower unit is not adversely affected by the leakage of the cleaning liquid or the resist (processing liquid).

(2) In the present apparatus 1, each unit 10, 2
Even when there is a difference between the substrate processing times at 0, 30, and 40, the buffer 6 is provided beside the vertically moving robots 51 and 52.
Since 1, 62, 63 and 64 are provided, the substrate can be made to stand by here to absorb the time difference.

When it is desired to apply only the resist and pre-bake to the substrate that has been washed and dehydrated and baked, the substrate is placed in the buffer 63 or the buffer 64 and the resist coating unit 30 performs the coating process. Prebake the substrate using buffer 20
The substrate can be returned to the buffer 3 or the buffer 64, or the substrate can be put into the buffer 63 or the buffer 64, processed by the resist coating unit 30 and the pre-bake unit 40, and then unloaded to the indexer 2. in this way,
Since the buffer is provided, it is possible to perform various patterns of substrate processing.

(3) In this apparatus, each unit 10, 2
Since the installation areas of 0, 30, and 40 are designed to be equal, the structural stability when these are arranged in multiple stages is good, and the vertical motion robots 2a, 51, and 52 can easily access each unit. ing.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, one line is arranged in a plane with respect to the indexer 2 (see FIG. 2). However, as shown in FIG. , 30, 40, etc., can be arranged such that two lines are arranged in parallel to the indexer 2.

In this case, since the lines are formed by arranging the units in multiple stages vertically, two lines can be accommodated in the width of the indexer 2. In addition, the dead space can be reduced by arranging the two lines by using the indexer 2.

The buffers 61 and 62 are provided only on one side of the vertically moving robots 51 and 52, and are not provided between the two lines, in consideration of the maintainability and the convenience of inserting the board halfway.

By arranging the two lines with respect to the indexer 2 as described above, even if one of the lines is stopped for exchanging the processing liquid or raising the temperature, the substrate processing can be continued in the other line. And equipment redundancy.

[Third Embodiment] The apparatus of the first embodiment is an apparatus capable of performing continuously from cleaning before resist application to resist application in a photolithography process. As shown in FIG. Place the unit,
A coater / developer device that can be connected to the exposure machine 91, a titler or an edge exposure machine (here, an edge exposure machine) 92 and can continuously perform cleaning from pre-resist coating to resist coating, exposure, and development can be configured.

<Overall Configuration> This multi-stage substrate processing apparatus employs an arrangement in which two lines are arranged in parallel between the indexer 2 and the exposing machine 91, and the transfer sections 65 and 66 located between the two lines. The substrate can be transferred between the two lines via the. The apparatus includes an indexer 2, a cleaning unit 10, a dehydration bake unit 20
, A resist coating unit 30, a pre-baking unit 40, a developing unit 81, and a post-baking unit 8.
2 and a vertically moving robot 2a, 51a, 51b, 52b
And a turning robot 52a. In addition, the vertically moving robots 51a, 51b, 52b and the turning robot 52
Buffers 61, 62, 63, and 64 are arranged outside a. Up and down robot 51a and up and down robot 5
1b, and a delivery unit 66 is arranged between the vertically moving robot 52b and the turning robot 52a.

In this apparatus, the cleaning unit 10 is arranged on the first floor (1F) and the post-bake unit 82 is arranged on the second floor in the lower line (hereinafter referred to as the first line) in FIG. An edge exposing machine 92 is arranged on the exposing machine 91 side with the vertically moving robot 51a interposed therebetween.
Only the revolving robot 52a can access the edge exposure machine 92, and the up-and-down moving robot 51a does not. 4, the resist coating unit 30 and the developing unit 81 are arranged in series on the first floor along the direction from the indexer 2 to the exposure device 91. The dewatering bake unit 20 is stacked above the resist coating unit 30, and the prebake unit 40 is stacked above the developing unit 81.

The vertical robot 2a moves between the cassette C of the indexer 2 and both lines, and the vertical robot 51a moves between the cleaning unit 10 and the post-baking unit 8.
2, the vertical movement robot 51 b includes the resist coating unit 30, the dehydration bake unit 20, and the developing unit 8.
1 and the pre-bake unit 40, the vertically moving robot 52b
The rotating robot 52 a is disposed between the edge exposing device 92 and the exposing device 91, respectively.

<Configuration of Each Unit and the Like> Cleaning Unit 1
0, dehydration bake unit 20, resist coating unit 3
The configuration of the pre-bake unit 40 is the same as that of the first embodiment. However, the arrangement of the series of processing units is arranged in the direction in which the substrates flow, as indicated by white arrows in FIG.

The developing unit 81 is a wet processing unit using a developing solution, and includes a carry-in section, a developing section, a washing section, a drying section, and a carry-out section which are arranged in order from the exposure machine 91 side. I have. From the loading unit to the unloading unit, the substrate is transported in a horizontal direction by a conveyor.

The post-baking unit 82 is a dry processing unit that does not use a liquid such as a processing liquid. The post-baking unit 82 includes a heating section in which heating chambers are stacked in multiple stages, a cooling section in which cooling chambers are stacked in multiple stages, and a substrate. And a turning robot for transporting the robot.

The vertically moving robot 51a is a robot that can access the unloading section of the cleaning unit 10, the heating section of the post-bake unit 82, the transfer section 65, and the buffer 61 by moving up and down and turning to extend the hand. is there.

The vertically moving robot 51b is moved up and down and turned to extend its hand, so that the carry-out part of the resist coating unit 30, the heating part of the dehydration bake unit 20, the carry-out part of the developing unit 81, the pre-bake unit 4
0 is a robot that can access the heating unit, the delivery unit 65, and the buffer 62.

The vertically moving robot 52b moves up and down and turns to extend the hand, thereby accessing the loading section of the developing unit 81, the cooling section of the pre-bake unit 40, the exposure device 91, the delivery section 66, and the buffer 63. Robot.

The turning robot 52a moves slightly up and down,
By turning and extending the hand, the exposure machine 9
1. Edge exposure machine 92, delivery unit 66, and buffer 64
A robot that can be accessed.

The up-down robot 2a moves up and down and turns to extend the hand, and thereby the cleaning unit 1
0, the cooling section of the post-baking unit 82, the loading section of the resist coating unit 30, the dewatering baking unit 2
0, and a robot that can access each cassette C. The up-and-down robot 2a includes an indexer 2
The vertical robot 2a itself can move in a plane along the direction in which the cassettes C are arranged (vertical direction in FIG. 4).

<Substrate Processing> Next, processing of a substrate by the multi-stage substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 will be described in order. In this apparatus, as described below, the substrates move from the indexer 2 in the order of the circled numbers as indicated by the white arrows in FIG. 4 and undergo processing in each processing unit of each unit. That is, the substrate receives the substrate processing and moves back to the cassette C while moving between the first floor and the second floor and between the two lines. The description of the substrate processing in each unit described in the first embodiment will be omitted, and the following description will focus on the movement of the substrate.

The vertically moving robot 2 in the indexer 2
The substrate taken out of the cassette C by a is first carried to the carry-in section of the cleaning unit 10 on the first floor of the first line.
The substrate transferred to the unloading section after the processing in the cleaning unit 10 is transferred to the transfer section 65 by the up-down robot 51a, and then moved therefrom by the up-down robot 51b to the dehydration bake unit 20 on the second floor of the second line. Transferred to heating section.

The substrate subjected to the dehydration bake in the dehydration bake unit 20 is carried by the vertically moving robot 2a to the loading section of the resist coating unit 30 on the first floor of the second line. The substrate on which the resist has been applied by the resist application unit 30 is moved by the up-down robot 51b.
It is moved to the heating section of the pre-bake unit 40 on the second floor of the second line.

The substrate pre-baked in the pre-baking unit 40 is carried to the exposure machine 91 by the vertically moving robot 52b. Here, a process of exposing a pattern on the original image to the resist on the substrate is performed. The substrate exposed here is transferred from the exposing machine 91 to the turning robot 5.
It is taken out by 2a and transferred to the edge exposure machine 92 to perform edge exposure. In the edge exposure, an exposure process is performed to remove the resist around the substrate except for the display unit on the substrate.

The substrate after the edge exposure is transferred to the transfer section 66 by the turning robot 52a, from which the vertical moving robot 52b moves the developing unit 8 on the first floor of the second line.
Transferred to No. 1 loading unit. In the developing unit 81,
Spray development or paddle development is performed, followed by washing with water and drying.

The substrate after these processes is transferred from the unloading section of the developing unit 81 to the transfer section 65 by the vertically moving robot 51b. Then, the wafer is transferred from the delivery section 65 to the post-bake unit 82 on the second floor of the first line by the vertically moving robot 51a. In the post bake unit 82,
A developing solution or a rinsing solution remaining in or on the surface of the resist film on the substrate is removed by evaporation, and heat treatment is performed for the purpose of curing the resist and strengthening the adhesion to the substrate. Specifically, the substrate is heated by a hot plate in a heating chamber, and the substrate is cooled by a cool plate in a cooling chamber.

The substrate after the post-baking is housed in the original cassette C by the vertically moving robot 2a.

<Features of Apparatus> (1) In this apparatus, a wet processing unit (cleaning unit 10, resist coating unit 30, developing unit 81) using a processing liquid is provided on the first floor, and a dry processing unit not using a processing liquid. (Dewatering baking unit 20, pre-baking unit 40, post-baking unit 82) are arranged on the second floor. Then, the vertically moving robots 2a, 51a, 51b,
52b is provided to enable the transfer of substrates between the wet processing unit on the first floor and the dry processing unit on the second floor.
In addition, by providing the transfer units 65 and 66, a series of substrate processing over the first line and the second line is enabled.

By configuring the apparatus in this manner, each wet processing unit can be arranged at the lower stage where maintenance is easy, and the floor space occupied by the apparatus can be reduced by configuring the apparatus in multiple stages.

Further, since the transfer section 65 enables the movement of the substrate across the line between the two lines,
The degree of freedom in the arrangement of each unit is increased, and a series of substrate processing can be performed without moving the substrate unnecessarily.

(2) In the present apparatus, even when there is a difference in the substrate processing time in each unit, the buffers 61 and 6 can be used.
Since 2, 63 and 64 are provided, the substrate can be made to stand by here to absorb the time difference.

[0082]

According to the present invention, a plurality of wet processing units are arranged at the first stage, and the substrate is transferred between the dry processing units stacked above by the substrate transfer means. Maintainability of the wet processing unit is ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the multi-stage substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a conventional multi-stage substrate processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Multi-stage substrate processing apparatus 2 Indexer 2a Vertical robot (substrate transfer means) 10 Cleaning unit (wet processing unit) 13 Cleaning unit (wet processing unit) 15 Unloading unit (substrate unloading unit) 20 Dehydration bake unit (dry processing unit) Reference Signs List 21 heating section (dry processing section; substrate loading section) 22 cooling section (dry processing section; substrate loading section) 30 resist coating unit (wet processing unit) 31 loading section (substrate loading section) 32 spin coater section (wet processing section) 34 Edge rinse unit (wet processing unit) 35 Unloading unit (substrate unloading unit) 40 Prebake unit (dry processing unit) 41 Heating unit (dry processing unit; substrate unloading unit) 42 Cooling unit (dry processing unit; substrate unloading unit) 51, 52 Vertically moving robot (substrate transfer means) 61, 62, 63, 64 Buffer (buffer unit)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of wet processing units including a plurality of processing units including a wet processing unit using a processing liquid; a plurality of dry processing units including a plurality of dry processing units not using a processing liquid; A plurality of substrate transfer means for transferring a substrate between the unit and the dry processing unit, wherein the plurality of wet processing units are arranged in a first stage, and the plurality of dry processing units A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus stacked above a wet processing unit. 2. The substrate transfer means according to claim 1, wherein said substrate transfer means takes out the substrate from a substrate carry-out part of said wet processing unit and transports the substrate to a substrate carry-in part of said dry processing unit. The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is taken out and transferred to a substrate loading section of the wet processing unit. 3. The substrate transfer means can be moved up and down.
The robot is a vertically movable robot that cannot move in a plane except for the hand. The wet processing unit and the dry processing unit that perform continuous substrate processing are the substrate unloading part of the upper processing unit and the substrate loading part of the lower processing unit. 3. The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate is planarly continuous with the substrate transfer unit interposed therebetween. 4. The stacked wet processing unit and dry processing unit have the same installation area.
The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the above. 5. A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus in which a plurality of processing units for performing processing on a substrate are arranged in multiple stages, wherein a plurality of processing units including a wet processing unit using a processing liquid; A first and a second wet processing unit for performing a series of processing on the substrate, a plurality of dry processing units that do not use a processing liquid, and a plurality of dry processing units that do not use a processing liquid. First and second dry processing units each having transport means for transporting a substrate between them, and substrate transfer means for transferring a substrate between the wet processing unit and the dry processing unit. A multi-stage substrate processing apparatus, wherein the first and second wet processing units are arranged in a first stage. 6. The first and second wet processing units are arranged in series along a substrate transport direction, and the second and first dry processing units are located above the first and second wet processing units. The substrate transfer means is capable of moving a substrate up and down, and the first wet processing unit and the second
The first wet processing unit is disposed between the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit, and the second wet processing unit is disposed between the first wet processing unit and the second wet processing unit. The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the substrate is transferred from the second wet processing unit to the second dry processing unit. 7. The multi-stage substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a buffer unit arranged beside the substrate transfer unit and capable of holding the substrate on standby.